[Buddha-l] Buddhism as a 'Selfish' Religion

[jkirk]

> Not having ever had or made a formal study of ethics, is virtue
ethics 
> one of several types of ethics, or what? If so, what are the
other 
> kinds of them? (Really mean this-- not being "funny". )
>
> Cheers, Joanna
>
>   
Hi Joanna,

different kinds of ethics are usefull if you want to decide a
discussion. Positive action can be defended by teleology or goal
ethics, because the intended consequences are good. There are
different kinds of teleologies according to how you appreceate
the consequences. Stoics and Epicurists judged the consequences
according to the happiness they brought along, this is called
eudemonism, or happiness ethics. There's also pleasure ethics or
hedonism and J.S. Mill came with utilism: any action which
realises the maximum profit for the maximum number of people is
good.
Positive action on the other hand can be rejected because it is a
form of racial discrimination and therefore principally wrong.
People who argue this way use deontology or duty ethics.
Religious ethics take on the principles of a religion. Immanuel
Kant however came with a rational
version: an action is OK if you can agree that the rule which can
be derived from the action will become a universal law. F.i.
lying is wrong because you cannot agree that everybody lies all
the time. In that case all talk would be useless. If you tell a
lie you even accept the rule that nobody should lie, because if
not your lie wouldn't be a lie. There are other versions like
'always respect a person as a goal in itself, never use anyone
merely as an instrument'.
If a teleologist and a deontologist have a discussion about
ethics they can talk for ever, because one talks about
consequences and the other about principles.
Virtue ethics is if you don't tell lies because you don't want to
be a liar. It means that you try to develop your character by
cultivating virtues or good qualities. The Stoics are a good
expample but also the paramitAyAna and I think most kinds of
Buddhism. Typical for this kind of ethics is a fixed number of
virtues and the use of examplary persons or what is called these
days 'good practices'.

Erik
===================
Thanks, Eric--  much clearer now.

Best, Joanna